Skip Bayless this morning introduced his new FS1 show "Undisputed" by saying he wanted to welcome viewers "to my new home," but the program bares a very similar resemblance -- in both studio and show set-up -- to his old home on ESPN2's "First Take." Bayless and co-hosts Shannon Sharpe and Joy Taylor launched the show this morning at 9:30am ET to compete against "First Take," where Bayless appeared for more than a decade as part of various versions of the show. The studio set-up -- a single table with Bayless and Sharpe on either end and Taylor, the moderator, in the middle -- is nearly identical to that of "First Take," though the lighting scheme is darker than that of the ESPN2 show. Additionally, the segments and on-air graphics are very similar in tone to that of "First Take." The first topic of discussion on "Undisputed" was the long-term prognosis of Cowboys QB Tony Romo, a frequent target of Bayless' on "First Take." Other topics discussed were 49ers QB Colin Kaepernick's protest of the national anthem, Johnny Manziel re-enrolling at Texas A&M and the baseball prospects of Tim Tebow, another long-time "First Take" target (THE DAILY).
SETTING THE STAGE: Bayless during the show's opening segment acknowledged his past at "First Take" and said he is "going to miss my brother Stephen A. Smith." Bayless: "But as he knows, I have always belonged right here on Fox. Fox isn’t owned and operated by Walt Disney, and here on Fox Sports 1, I'm going to be a little more free to give all of me." He added he is now being reunited with Fox Sports National Networks President Jamie Horowitz, who "six years ago at ESPN turned ‘First Take’ into all debate, every day for two live hours." Bayless: "The rest was TV history. Thank you, Jamie Horowitz, for giving me this opportunity again." Bayless called Sharpe the “greatest trash-talker in NFL history," but he warned him, "This isn't the football field.” Bayless: “This is ‘Undisputed.’ This is Fox attitude. Welcome.” Sharpe thanked the Fox execs who picked him as Bayless' co-host, saying, "I realize you had a lot of talent to choose from. ... It’s not very often that a former football player -- ex-athlete -- gets a chance to sit in a debate chair on a daily basis. Normally these jobs are reserved for columnists and journalists, so for you believing in me and giving me this opportunity, I'm deeply humbled and honored” ("Undisputed," FS1, 9/6).
SKIP-PING STONES: BLOOMBERG NEWS’ Lucas Shaw notes Bayless after 12 years at ESPN is “embarking on his greatest challenge yet: going head-to-head with his former employer.” Horowitz is “betting that big personalities are the foundation of cable sports networks of the future,” and Bayless is the “centerpiece of this effort to put Fox Sports 1 on the map, a provocateur with a populist streak in the mold of Fox News’s Bill O’Reilly.” Bayless said, “We are climbing Everest here. I’m now challenging the juggernaut I helped to build.” Shaw notes opinion shows "appeal to Horowitz for another reason: they’re cheaper.” Sources said that Fox’ new studio shows cost less than $10M a year, with most of that “going to talent like Bayless and Colin Cowherd.” By comparison, FS1 in its first year “spent more than” $20M apiece on “Fox Sports Live” and “Crowd Goes Wild.” Horowitz’s strategy “depends on talent, and Fox has recruited personalities like Cowherd, Jason Whitlock and Katie Nolan.” However, Bayless “was the biggest coup of all” (BLOOMBERG NEWS, 9/6). ADWEEK's A.J. Katz notes Fox Sports considers the addition of Bayless "a coup for the company and believes the news merits a significant multiplatform marketing campaign." He will be promoted "across its multiple properties," which include the NFL, college football and MLB (ADWEEK.com, 9/6).
TELL ME HOW YOU REALLY FEEL: Fox' Troy Aikman is lashing out at his employer for bringing on Bayless, saying, “To say I’m disappointed in the hiring of Skip Bayless would be an enormous understatement. Clearly, Jamie Horowitz and I have a difference of opinion when it comes to building a successful organization. I believe success is achieved by acquiring and developing talented, respected and credible individuals, none of which applies to Skip Bayless." SI.com's Richard Deitsch notes Aikman has "specific reasons to be unhappy with the Bayless hire," as Bayless in a book about the '90s Cowboys "made an unsubstantiated claim that Aikman was gay." Aikman "has a number of years left on his Fox Sports contract," so it should be monitored how Fox Sports President & COO Eric Shanks "navigates any intersection between Aikman and Bayless, as well as those Fox Sports staffers (and Aikman has supporters all over the company) upset by what they see as a public slap in the face of one of Fox’s best talents" (SI.com, 9/6). In his column on who to watch in the NFL this season, SBJ/SBD Exec Editor Abe Madkour lists Aikman and writes, “The well-liked Aikman has never been fond of Skip Bayless, who has criticized and questioned the former Cowboys QB for years, and Aikman can’t love the fact that Bayless will have a high-profile slot at Fox Sports. Aikman’s contract is reportedly up in 2019, and I’ll be watching how Eric Shanks, Jamie Horowitz and Aikman’s agent, Jordan Bazant, navigate this potential powder keg” (SPORTSBUSINESS JOURNAL, 9/5 issue).
